Risk factors associated with dysphagia after anterior surgery in treatment for multilevel cervical disorder with kyphosis

This is a retrospective study. Our aim was to investigate the risk factors related to dysphagia following anterior surgery treating the multilevel cervical disorder with kyphosis based on a subgroup of follow-up time. Finally, a total of 81 patients suffering from the multilevel cervical disorder with kyphosis following anterior surgery from July 2018 to June 2020 were included in our study. Patients with dysphagia were defined as the dysphagia group and without dysphagia as the no-dysphagia (NG) group based on a subgroup of follow-up time (1-week, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year after surgery). Clinical outcomes and radiological data were performed to compare between dysphagia group and NG. In our study, the rate of dysphagia was 67.9%, 44.4%, 34.6%, 25.9%, and 14.8% at 1-week, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year after surgery, respectively. Our findings showed that change of Cobb angle of C2-7 was associated with dysphagia within 3-month after surgery. Furthermore, postoperative Cobb angle of C2-7 was linked to dysphagia within 6-month after surgery. Interestingly, a history of smoking and lower preoperative SWAL-QOL score were found to be risk factors related with dysphagia at any follow-up. In the present study, many factors were found to be related to dysphagia within 3-month after surgery. Notably, a history of smoking and lower preoperative SWAL-QOL score were associated with dysphagia at any follow-up. We hope this article can provide a reference for spinal surgeons to predict which patients were susceptible to suffering from dysphagia after anterior surgery in the treatment of multilevel cervical disorder with kyphosis.